Indicator for boats



UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER LEITH, OF HUMBOLDT PARK, NEAR CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

INDICATOR FOR BOATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent. No. 359,511, dated March 15, 1887.

Application tiled December 31,1886. Serial No. 223,137. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER LEITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Humboldt Park, near Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicators for Boats, of which the following is a specification.

The figure of the drawing represents a plan view of a vessel and a tug towing the same.

A represents'the boat in tow; B, the tug; C, the tow-line; 1),.the pilot-wheel; E, a needle or indicator, and F cords leading from the needle or indicator to the tow-line.

Heretofore in navigation where boats are towed by a tug or barge there has been difficulty on dark nights or in dense fogs for the pilot or other person steering the boat properly to follow the tug, owing to the impossibility of seeing it and observing its variations in course of direction. The object of my invention is to obviatevthis difficulty and to enable the person steering the boat to constantly know or see the various changes of direction which the tug may take, and be enabled to change the course of the towed boat accordingly.

In applying my improvement I employ a needle or indicator, which I preferably pivot in front of the place where the pilot stands, and in a position wherehe can observe it while manipulating the wheel. The manner inwhieh this indicator may be pivoted is clearly shown in the drawing, and need not be minutely described. I attach to one end'of this indicator, preferably the rear end, one or more cords or wires, E, which lead out from the end of the needle, preferably at right angles to it, when pointing straight toward the prow of the boat. I pass these cords preferably around rollers or pulleys, so that they will move back and forth with ease. I then carry the cords forward and pass them around another pulley, near the front end of the towed boat, and attach them to the tow-line. I have said that either one or two cords could be employed. \Vhere one cord only is used passing toward one side of the boat and forward to the towline, a balance-weight or spring should be employed on the other side to bring the end of the needle or indicator, to which the line is attached, in the other direction when the cord is slack. An ordinary weight attached to a cord and hanging down over a pulley or an ordinary spring to bring the end of the needle back and toward the other side will be sufiicient. In operation, as the tug moves straight ahead the needle or indicator will point toward the prow of the boat,while, when the tug moves off in one direction, as shown in the drawing, the cord on the side of the towed boat from which the tug is moving will be drawn tight and the end of the needle move in that direction, while the point of the needle will assumethe position corresponding to that taken by the tug or barge. As the tug changes its course and draws straight ahead of the boat in tow, the needle will assume its normal position, as above described. As the tugmovcs over toward theother side,the other cord (where two are used) will be drawn tight and the end of the indicator move toward it, so as to correctly indicate the position of the tug. In this way the steersman can always tell the position and direction of the tug, although, owing to the night or the thickness of the fog, he may not be able to see it.

I do not here claim specifically an indicator connected to the tow-line from one side alone, this construction being covered by my generic claim herein. and it being also my intention to make it the subject of another or divisional application.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- I.

1. In combination with a towed boat, an indicator adapted to vary with the movements of the tug to show the directiou'thereof, and means for attaching the same to the tow-line, substantially as described.

2. In combination with a towed boat, a pivoted indicator, and cords or wires connecting one end of the same to the tow-line from opposite sides, whereby the indicator is made to changeits position with the variations in po sition of the tug, substantially as described,

ALEXANDER LEITH.

Witnesses:

FRANK L. DOUGLAS, THOMAS A. BANNING. 

